A “Lentil” Gratitude for the Table

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I hope all you Bloggers enjoyed your Day of Thanks!

Instead of shopping those Black Friday sales, I’d thought I’d take a moment to rewind, reflect, and share some plant-based recipes I tried out yesterday!

First and foremost, I make it a habit to practice gratitude on the daily by writing down 5 things I am grateful for.

Today, I am grateful for:

My first plant-based Thanksgiving dinner being a success!
My awesome boyfriend who has joined me on this plant-based journey. It makes practicing a plant-based lifestyle a lot easier when you have someone by your side to share an experience like this with.
My family and friends who support and respect the plant-based lifestyle. (Despite my dad’s jokes haha) Special thanks to the Jandusay family for making us a tofu dish and amazing vegan chocolate chip cookies 🙂
All of the kind humans out there who are raising awareness and sharing their plant-based recipes.
Anyone who was thoughtful in their food choices to help save our planet or improve their health. Thank you ❤

A “lentil” Random Fact: The US consumes 46 million turkeys to celebrate this one day!!! Isn’t that crazy?

So instead of turkey being our centerpiece, I brought a “lentil” gratitude to the table to share with our family and friends. I found a main dish recipe with lentils and vegetables on Pinterest from a blog called It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken and made some minor changes. Initially I was a “lentil” intimidated by the intricacies of the puff pastry, BUT it looked so tasty and pretty, I had to try it out 🙂 Luckily it was a success and everyone, meat eaters included, enjoyed it!

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Ingredients:

Lentils:

1 cup Green Lentils, uncooked (From Trader Joe’s)
2 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth

Vegetable Mix:

2 T Olive Oil
1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
1/2 Red Onion, chopped
2 Medium Carrots, peeled and chopped
1- 8 oz. box of Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
1 handful of Kale
2 Small Italian Zucchini, chopped
2-3 T of Garlic, chopped or minced

Dry Mix + Flaxseed Egg:

3/4 cup Rolled Oats
1/4 cup GF Flour
1/4 GF bread crumbs
1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 flaxseed Egg (3 T flaxseed and 3 T of water combined until thick and gelatinous)
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne
4 Leaves of Fresh Sage, chopped
Salt and pepper (a pinch or 3) 😉
2 Sheets of Puff Pastry, Thawed (Pepperidge Farm is vegan!)
2 T of non-dairy milk (to brush onto pastry)

Directions:

Boil the lentils in the vegetable broth until soft (follow directions on the package).
Let the lentils cool down and then place in a food processor to blend until smooth.
In a large frying pan over medium heat, sauté the onions, mushrooms, garlic in olive oil. Then add carrots, zucchini and kale.
Allow to cool down to about room temperature and prepare flaxseed egg
Then in a large bowl add the blended lentils to the vegetable mix.
Add flaxseed egg (3 T of flaxseed and 3 T of water), oats, bread crumbs, walnuts, and all seasonings.
Mix until combined and chill overnight or at least 2 hours
This mix yields 2 loafs! woot woot!

Carrots and zucchini chopped

Chopped Onions and Sliced Mushrooms

Veggies Combined

Blended Lentils

Lentils, Veggies, and Dry Ingredients

Mix it up!!

Next Day: PASTRY TIME

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
I recommend using wax paper to roll puff pastry out into a large rectangle.
Then follow the pictures below to guide your cutting design.
Once your puff pastry is rolled out and ready, shape your lentils/veggie mix into a loaf and place at the center of the puff pastry dough.
Fold the puff pastry strips over each other “in weave-like fashion” and feel free to make designs out of the left over pieces; I made leaves 🙂
Brush the top with some non-dairy milk